Notre Dame Football on NBC Viewership Best in Eight Years

Sep 11, 2018

Sports

Notre Dame Football on NBC Viewership Best in Eight Years

Stamford, CT

NBC Sports’ Notre Dame Football on NBC coverage is off to its most-watched season in eight years, producing a Total Audience Delivery average of 4.837 million viewers through its first two games, according to data provided by The Nielsen Company and Adobe Analytics.

Through two games, NBC Sports’ Notre Dame viewership on NBC is up 65% vs. the first two games of the 2017 season (Temple and Georgia, 2.923 million), and marks the best viewership since 2010 (5.360 million), when Notre Dame opened the season at home with rivalry games against Purdue and Michigan.

The 2018 Notre Dame Football on NBC campaign opened with the network’s most-watched Notre Dame game in 13 years, as more than 7 million viewers tuned in to NBC to watch the Fighting Irish defeat the then-ranked No. 14 Michigan Wolverines, 24-17, on Sept. 1 to rank as the most-watched college football game of Labor Day weekend.

The No. 8 Fighting Irish’s 24-16 win against Ball State on NBC last Saturday produced a Total Audience Delivery average of 2.473 million viewers, up 55% vs. last year’s comparable afternoon game on NBC (Temple; 1.594 million)

NBC Sports continues its 28th season of Notre Dame Football on NBC this weekend, when the No. 8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2-0) host the Vanderbilt Commodores (2-0) this Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Ind. This marks the first of three 2:30 p.m. ET start times for Notre Dame Football on NBC this season (Pittsburgh, 10/13; Syracuse, 11/17).

The Fighting Irish improved to 2-0 with a 24-16 win at home against the Ball State Cardinals on Saturday in South Bend. RB Jafar Armstrong rushed for his third touchdown of the season through two games, and RB Tony Jones Jr. added a pair of touchdown rushes for the Fighting Irish. QB Brandon Wimbush threw for 297 yards despite three interceptions.

Vanderbilt visits South Bend this weekend for the first time since 1995, and the third all-time meeting between the two schools. The Commodores are off to a 2-0 start following wins against Middle Tennessee State (35-7) and Nevada (41-10) at home. QB Kyle Shurmur, son of New York Giants head coach Pat Shurmur, threw two touchdowns passes in each game. The Commodores look to snap a 19-game road losing streak against ranked opponents that dates back to October of 2007 when they beat South Carolina.

NBC Sports’ Notre Dame football commentary team is led by Mike Tirico, who is in his second full season as the voice of Notre Dame Football on NBC. He’s joined in the booth by Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie, who serves as lead analyst for Notre Dame Football on NBC, and sideline reporter Kathryn Tappen. Former NFL referee Terry McAulay, who recently joined NBC Sports following 20 years as an on-field NFL game official, joins the booth in his first season as an on-air rules analyst.

Kathryn Tappen will handle halftime coverage of Notre Dame Football on NBC this Saturday alongside former college and NFL quarterback Chris Simms (studio analyst).